[Microbiology related to anal abscess complicated with fistula formation]

The results of operative treatment of anal abscesses with reviewed retrospectively for a period of three years with the object of correlating the microbiological findings on culture from the abscess with the presence of a fistula. Patients who had not been controlled postoperatively were requested to attend for anal examination. Fistula were demonstrated in 27 out of 83 patients. No fistulae nor recurrences of abscesses were found in patients in whom only bacteria not derived from the intestine were cultured. Culture from an anal abscesses is thus of considerable prognostic value.